If you would like a quick course in what’s wrong with America, take a hard look at the Sen. Craig mess, and the report on the Virginia Tech shootings—as well as the reaction to both.
There is little doubt that Craig was soliciting sex in that men’s room, so his denials make it even more pathetic. Beyond that, if it were not true, why did he cop a plea? Please note that this little encounter goes way past simply being gay. The object here is fast, anonymous gratification, performed in a tawdry, risky environment. And this man was a multi-term US senator.
Note also the mendacity surrounding Craig: Can you believe for one minute that his wife and family were unaware of his dual life? Can you believe for one minute that his fellow senators were unaware either? In both cases, they were quite happy to reap the benefits of being attached to Mr. Craig, and in the case of Team “R,” were also quite happy to jettison him with great dispatch.
Team “R” seems to be taking a hit on this matter, since it typically espouses family values (although this term has never been defined). On the other hand, Team “D” tends to get a free pass on the morality side, since it typically espouses immorality, and, as such, has not commented on Craig’s fall. It is clear that the Republicans—as a matter of convenience—were content to keep the guy around, since he did represent one more vote in their favor, even though sooner or later, his peccadilloes would bury him, to say nothing of them.
Let me assure you that Craig’s fall will not be the final one of this political season, as fund raising nightmares start haunting Team “D,” and its front-runner, Lady Macbeth Clinton.
As to the Virginia Tech shooting, the recently released report does confirm my earlier remarks regarding the foolish manner in which the university handled the first two dorm homicides. The campus warnings were done too late, and the campus was not secured as well as it should have been.
Predictably, V-Tech president Steger kept up his mantra that he could not have done anything more, aided and abetted by Governor Tim Kaine’s jaw-dropping statement that the college president and administration have “suffered enough.” Gee, Timmy, if getting criticized is suffering enough, what would you say about the victims and their families?
Have you caught the misdirection here? A horrific incident occurs on campus, that never should have occurred, or at worst, should never have become as grotesquely large as it became. Yet, a blindingly incompetent college president and his Keystone Cops police force (please remember that Cho killed himself to end the rampage) are somehow absolved of all blame and even garner majority campus support by feeling their pain, and portraying themselves as co-victims. Apparently, the more nauseating high-profile communal grieving ceremonies the better.
Tragically, there is a long-established tradition in American history whereby devastating blunders in leadership are transformed into “situations” suddenly inflicted, as if they were natural disasters, upon those same leaders. The leaders, then, must “courageously” deal with them.
Thus, in our standard versions: Abraham Lincoln did not cause the Civil War, nor could he even stop the hostilities of his own volition; rather, he had to “lead” our nation through that troubled time. John F. Kennedy did not by his own recklessness provoke what came to be known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. Rather, he “led us” through that incident, even if he never admitted that the crisis was defused only by him taking our missiles out of Turkey. And Steger did everything he could, even if he could not be bothered to remove a single psychopath from campus—although he did agree to kick him out of Nikki Giovanni’s class, because her satisfaction trumped the safety of the students. Moreover, he has “suffered enough.”
While many of us deplore what passes for leadership these days, it is clear that lots of folks are still drinking the Kool-Aid. I can’t say it any better than Craig’s arresting officer: “No wonder why we’re going down the tubes.”